Couple selling home out of fear over racist texts from TruGreen worker, NC attorney says
A couple is afraid to live in their North Carolina home after receiving a barrage of racist, threatening text messages from a TruGreen employee who evaluated their lawn, their attorney says.
Now they’ve listed their home in Mecklenburg County for sale, according to Charlotte-based attorney William H. Harding.
The hateful messages came after the employee performed an unsolicited TruGreen lawn evaluation for the couple and left a flyer recommending the company’s services when they were away on March 18, 2022, according to a lawsuit filed by the couple against TruGreen.
When the husband found the TruGreen flyer and turned down services, the employee bombarded him with a series of texts sent through a company phone, an amended complaint says. The situation escalated further after he learned the homeowner was Black, according to the complaint.
“Yea I (used) to not be racist but now I clearly see. …Y’all all deserve the noose,” the messages read in part, according to the complaint.
The couple has filed a $100,000 lawsuit against TruGreen, TruGreen Limited Partnership and the former employee over the incident in a case set to go to trial in Mecklenburg County Superior Court on Aug. 28, Harding told McClatchy News in an interview.
The lawsuit was first reported by WSOC-TV.
In a statement provided to McClatchy News on June 12, TruGreen said “the employee involved in this incident was promptly terminated in 2022 following an investigation into the allegations made by the couple.”
“TruGreen reiterates that it condemns such appalling actions and will not tolerate behavior of this kind in our business.”
When Harding read the employee’s texts that make references to him condoning slavery and his white ancestors, Harding said “it really shocked me and hurt me in ways that’s hard to describe.”
As the couple’s home is up for sale, they’ve been going back and forth between living there and another residence since they are afraid to live there full time, according to Harding.
“Now my clients don’t feel safe in their own home. … He knows where my clients live, and he only knows that because of TruGreen,” he said.
The lawsuit
The husband, who takes pride in caring for his lawn, found the results of the TruGreen lawn evaluation left at his door as amusing and “incorrect” in March 2022, according to the complaint.
He responded to the offer of services by texting a number listed for the employee saying, “Thanks but I think I’m good…I’ve seen TruGreen yards and they don’t look like this” and shared a photo of his front lawn with two laughing and crying face emojis, the complaint says.
Afterward, the employee, who appeared insulted, called and started sending texts to the husband’s phone, according to the complaint.
“It’s not smart being a (expletive) and sending a pic of exactly which house and what number u are….next time call or hell we can have a face to face,” the first text read, the complaint says.
The messages didn’t stop there, and before the husband could respond, the employee started insulting his lawn and promised to stop by the next time he treats his neighbors’ lawn, according to the complaint.
By this point, the husband was “confused, disturbed and threatened” and sought to defuse the situation by calling the employee, who began talking about how a white man’s brown dog bit him in the neighborhood, the complaint says.
The husband said he “had nothing to do with any dog bite” and that he was Black, according to the complaint.
When the employee heard this, he started cursing, causing the husband to hang up, the complaint says.
Then, racist texts and threats followed, according to the complaint.
“U just showed me my grandma was right. You don’t deserve the (expletive) air u breath,” the employee wrote, the complaint says.
The husband, while feeling concerned for “not just his property, but himself, his family and his home,” called his wife, who was equally disturbed to learn about the texts, the complaint says.
Instead of responding to the employee, he drove to a TruGreen branch location in Indian Trail that day and spoke with its general operations manager about the employee, according to the complaint.
Now, the manager is due to appear in court for a deposition on June 20, court records filed June 9 show.
The lawsuit says there had been prior customer complaints about the employee and the company should’ve conducted a “complete and thorough criminal background check.”
TruGreen confirmed it “conducts criminal background checks on its employees before they are hired.”
Harding said it’s not enough that TruGreen fired the employee because he shouldn’t have been hired.
After the texts, the couple went to court and got a permanent restraining order against the employee on May 4, 2022, the complaint says.
Despite this, they are still scared, according to the complaint.
They are suing the defendants on several grounds, including negligence.
TruGreen serves more than 2.3 million customers across the U.S.
McClatchy News is not naming the couple to protect their identity and is not naming the former employee because he hasn’t been charged in the incident.
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